Publications

Habitat features needed by wildlife can change in composition throughout the year, particularly in temperate ecosystems, leading to distinct seasonal spatial-use patterns. Studies of species-habitat associations therefore often focus on understanding relationships within discrete seasonal periods with common goals of prediction (e.g., habitat mapping) and inference (e.g., interpreting...

The social structure of translocated animal populations can have important effects on the survival and reproduction of translocated individuals for both solitary and social species. The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is a reptile of conservation concern that is currently experiencing high levels of mitigation translocation in Florida, USA. Individuals live in aggregations of...

1. Decomposition controls the release of carbon and nutrients from decaying plant litter into soils or the atmosphere. In most biomes decomposition rates can be accurately predicted with simple mathematical models, but these models have long under-predicted decomposition in globally- extensive drylands. 2. We posit that the exposed surface conditions characteristic of drylands makes...

Background Since the 1980s, Pacific Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans, hereafter brant) have shifted their winter distribution northward from Mexico to Alaska (approximately 4500 km) with changes in climate. Alongside this shift, the primary breeding population of brant has declined. To understand the population-level implications of the changing migration strategy of brant, it is...

The Sangre de Cristo Range in southern Colorado exposes some of the deepest Cenozoic structural levels in the Rocky Mountain region, including mylonitic shear zones associated with both the Laramide orogeny and Rio Grande rift. We investigated the relation between Laramide contraction and Rio Grande rift extension with detailed geologic mapping, kinematic analysis, and geochronometry in...

It has been 60 years since the discovery of C4 photosynthesis, an event that rewrote our understanding of plant adaptation, ecosystem responses to global change, and global food security. Despite six decades of research, one aspect of C4 photosynthesis that remains poorly understood is how the pathway fits into the broader context of adaptive trait spectra, which form our modern view of...

The Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus control program in the Laurentian Great Lakes is one of the longest-running and most successful invasive species suppression programs in the world. Although several techniques are used to suppress Sea Lamprey, the control program relies heavily on regular application of lampricide to kill stream-dwelling larvae. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted...

In North America, Eurasian watermilfoil Myriophyllum spicatum is one of the most widespread non-native aquatic plant species in freshwater ecosystems. Applications of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) herbicides are often utilized to control Eurasian watermilfoil. Herbicide applications may have unintended effects on non-target organisms like zooplankton and fish, but these effects...

The internal ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa is thought to be a prime candidate for hosting extraterrestrial life. Europa’s silicate interior may contribute to habitability via the generation of reactants through hydrothermal activity, serpentinization, or other geological processes occurring on or just below Europa’s seafloor. However, silicate melting is thought to occur at >100 km...

Fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing instruments harness the temperature-dependent properties of glass to measure temperature continuously along optical fibers by using precise pulses of laser light. In the mid-2000s, this technology was refined for environmental monitoring purposes such as snowpack-air exchange, groundwater/surface-water exchange, and lake-water stratification...

The security and economic stability of the United States rely heavily on robust lifeline infrastructure systems and yet the risks to such systems are seldom quantified at the national scale. For example, while earthquake risks to buildings in the United States have been investigated at the national scale regularly, such risks to gas pipelines have rarely been investigated nationally. In...

Survival is a key life history parameter that can inform management decisions and basic life history research. Because true survival is often confounded with emigration from the study area, many studies are forced to estimate apparent survival (i.e., probability of surviving and remaining inside the study area), which can be much lower than true survival for highly mobile species. One...